Nurul Izzah Anwar, an engineering major at a college in Malaysia ...

effects, and today Michael Carter lives a normal life as a high-spirited,
basketball-playing teenager. 4
Chapter 8 Supporting Your Ideas 181
While the above story is factual, there are occasions when you may
want to use a narrative that is hypothetical, that is, about an imaginary
situation. Katrina Benjamin, a private investigator, wanted to explain how
computers have invaded the average person’s privacy:
A company is trying to decide whether to hire you, and they ask me to
investigate you. All I have is your name and address. I sit down in front of
my computer and within five hours, I know a great deal about you: I know
what jobs you have held and how much you got paid. I know the names of
your parents, siblings, spouse, and children. I know what kind of car you
drive and how much you paid for it. I know if you have ever been arrested
or charged with a crime—even if it’s just a ticket for speeding. I know the
amount of the monthly payment on your home mortgage. I know what kinds
of medical problems you have, and I know the names of all the prescribed
medications you have taken in the past and are taking right now. 5
This hypothetical scenario dramatically demonstrates the intrusiveness
of computers.
Comparison and Contrast
Sometimes the best way to explain a thing or a concept is to make a comparison—that
is, show how it resembles something else. In a lecture on
the development of the English language, a speaker noted the following
similarities:
The Frisian language, spoken by 300,000 Frisians in the marshy headlands
of northern Holland, is more closely related to English than any other language.
Our glass of milk is their glass milk, our butter is their butter, our
dream is their dream, our boat is their boat, our green is their grien, our
house is their hus, our cow is their ko, our goose is their goes, our sunshine
is their sinneskine . . .
By giving many points of comparison, the speaker strongly illustrated
how similar the two languages are.
While a comparison shows how things are similar, a contrast shows
how they are different. In describing the vast chasm between rich and poor
in India, writer Celia W. Dugger contrasted the new India and the old India:
In Hyderabad, Cyber Towers rises from the campus of a software technology
park, a sleek Internet-connected symbol of the new India that is feverishly
courting foreign investment, selling its wares in the global marketplace,
and creating wealth at an astonishing rate.
But less than 50 miles away, in the poverty-stricken village of Sheri
Ram Reddy Guda, the old India is alive and unwell. Illiteracy, sickness,
and hunger are the villagers’ constant companions. Women and children
work in the fields for less than 50 cents a day. The sole telephone—an
antique contraption of batteries and antennae—almost never works. 6
Sometimes it is helpful to use both comparison and contrast. For
example, comparing and contrasting Japanese and American cars could
help the listener understand more fully the features of each.
hypothetical
narrative
imaginary story related
to help listeners
visualize a potential
situation
SpeechMate
To see a speaker who
uses a hypothetical
narrative, view Video
Clip 8.2 on the CD.
comparison
showing how two or
more items are alike
contrast
showing how two or
more items are different
SpeechMate
To see a speaker who
makes a contrast to
explain sickle cell
anemia, view Video
Clip 8.3 on the CD.